Content providers and/or service providers routinely provide media content broadcasts to client devices such as set-top boxes, mobile phones, personal computers, tablet computers, gaming consoles, and other devices. In some situations, a media content broadcast can be blacked out in one or more regions, such that the media content broadcast is not accessible by client devices within the blacked-out regions. By way of a non-limiting example, as an attempt to increase in-person attendance of a football game, a football league can request that a provider take steps to black out video broadcasts of the football game to client devices located within the geographic region in which the football game is being played, while not blacking out the broadcast in other regions in which viewers are not as likely to physically attend the game. In some situations, the primary media content broadcast can be blacked out and replaced with an alternate media content broadcast, such that viewers in the blacked-out region who attempt to access the blacked-out media content broadcast are instead presented with the alternate media content broadcast.
In traditional cable and broadcast television systems, blackouts can be controlled by service providers and/or content providers. When a provider chooses to blackout a particular media content broadcast in one or more blackout regions, the provider can send a retune message in-band to an integrated receiver-decoder (IRD) or blackout manager physically located in each blackout region, such that any client devices in the blackout region that attempt to access the media content broadcast instead receive an alternate media content broadcast. This system requires the physical presence of an IRD in each blackout region, and requires regional processing of each blacked-out media content broadcast, including reception, decryption, transcoding and packaging, encryption, multiplexing, and transmission.
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) networks are increasingly common. In contrast to the regional processing of blacked-out media content broadcasts in traditional television systems, IPTV networks are often centralized such that most processing functions are performed at a central data center that feeds all regions directly. For example, IPTV networks can be centralized with edge-based distribution in which content intended for an end-user client device can be encrypted at the central data center, and be transmitted to the end-user client device directly over IP networks. The direct transmission of media content broadcasts from the central data center eliminates the need for an IRD to be physically present within each region. Some methods of blacking out media content broadcasts in IPTV systems have been developed, however they do not adequately prevent client devices in a blacked-out region from gaining access to the blacked-out media content broadcast.